In 2017 Barnaul City Duma will celebrate its 140th anniversary. On the eve of such a momentous event this is an occasion to return to the origins of the Barnaul municipal government, to highlight a number of historical, legal and institutional foundations in the activities of the state authorities which have been the “voice of the people” from the distant past up to the present. The analysis of archival documents, various information materials, and legal acts regulating the activities of representative bodies of local self-government, the study of theoretical sources and points of view of some scientists-“municipals” allows the authors to trace the progress of the formation and development of local self-government in the urban district in the 19th –20th centuries. Involvement of authors in the study of the process let them evaluate the events both from an objective point of view, and using the method of subjective analysis. The article attempts to carry out a comparative analysis of the activities of the elected officials to address the pressing everyday life issues of in different periods, stresses the need to preserve the historical and other local traditions to solve the questions related to socio-economic development of the city and the importance of continuity in municipal activities.